Movies.

In `War Zone,' Roth Takes On A Mature Role

January 16, 2000|By John Petrakis. Special to the Tribune.

Tim Roth makes it painfully clear before discussing "The War Zone," his movie directing debut, just how hard it is for him to keep talking about it. It's not simply that Roth has been fielding questions, both serious and inane, on the film festival and press tour circuit for a solid year, starting with the film's world premiere at the Sundance Film Fest last January and continuing through its Chicago opening this weekend at the Music Box Theatre.

More to the point is the film's extremely difficult subject matter: incest and family sexual abuse. "I'll say one thing," he says. "My wife is certainly tired of me talking about it."

Those familiar with Roth from his wildly perverse roles in such films as Quentin Tarantino's "Reservoir Dogs" and "Pulp Fiction" may find it difficult to believe that he is happily married with three children. At the ripe old age of 38, Roth seems more than ready for a career change, which was at the heart of his decision to start directing.

"It's not that the roles I've been doing are childish, exactly, but they've been sort of youthful," he says carefully. "I wanted to do something more mature."

He first met producer Sarah Radclyffe on the set of "A World Apart" in 1986, and she was the one to bring "The War Zone" to his attention. He decided within 24 hours of reading the book that this was the one he'd been waiting for.

"The War Zone" is based on a 1989 novel by Alexander Stuart that was in line to win a major English literary prize before it was withdrawn at the last minute when one of the judges deemed the book too offensive to be rewarded.

"It actually helped sales," Roth says with a laugh. "It gave the book a lot more notoriety, since nothing like that had ever happened before."

The story concerns a middle-class family from London who moves to the countryside near Devon for the father's work. Both children, 17-year-old Jessie and 15-year-old Tom, are unhappy with the move, but since Jessie is planning to leave for college before too long, the brunt of the despair falls on Tom, who has not only lost his pals from the big city but must cope with his burgeoning sexual awakening.

And then something happens that turns Tom's already scattered world upside down. One rainy afternoon, he sees something through the bathroom window (something that director Roth chooses not to show us right away), but is soon revealed as some sort of sexual encounter between Jessie and the father.

Tom confronts Jessie, who denies everything. But as evidence mounts, it becomes clear that there is a cancer gnawing away at the family, a cancer made all the more dangerous with the birth of a new baby daughter to the mother.

An obvious temptation would be to make a story like this in the grainy black-and-white style of the British social realists of the 1960s (think "The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner"). But one of the beautiful oddities of this remarkable film is how gorgeous the cinematography is, complete with wide-screen sweep.

"I saw it that way when I read the book," Roth explains. "Besides, I wanted to make a movie, and I thought wide-screen was highly appropriate here. The story is ugly enough. The film itself doesn't need to be."

Instead of hiring an experienced cinematographer, as first-time directors are wont to do, Roth chose the rather youngish Seamus McGarvey, best known for his chilly exterior work on Alan Rickman's debut feature, "The Winter Guest."

"I thought about going with a more experienced hand," Roth says, "but I thought someone younger could relate better to the kids in the film. I was quite conscious of that, since this was going to be a difficult enough shoot as it was."

Though Roth wanted seasoned actors to play the roles of the father and mother (he chose Ray Winstone from "Nil By Mouth" and Tilda Swinton of "Orlando"), he cast unknowns in the roles of the teens, since he wanted youngsters who were fresh and unspoiled. (Roth himself had no formal training as an actor and is on record as saying that he feels acting school can gut the raw passion out of a performer.)

From an audition of more than 2,500 young actors, he ended up with Freddie Cunliffe as Tom and the mesmerizing Lara Belmont as Jessie, neither of whom had ever acted before.

"They were equally difficult to find," Roth explains. "The one thing, perhaps, that made casting Tom more demanding was the fact that he had so many reaction shots, just staring into the camera, which can be tough even for an experienced actor."

This sense of cinematic silence also played a role when Roth oversaw the writing of the script with Alexander Stuart. To help him out, Roth suggested that Stuart read the screenplays from some silent films, since so much of what is felt in the story is never articulated.

Roth also rejected the idea of doing a lot of improvisation before shooting in order to help "bond" the family as a unit.

"I don't like improvisation unless it's extremely structured," he says. "Most of the time, the rehearsals are all over the place, unless it's someone accustomed to using it, like John Cassavetes or Mike Leigh."

The end result is a film that is difficult to watch at times, and one that keeps surprising us with just how far a single character can sink. Or does he?

"I was careful not to make any judgments about the father," Roth says. "I wanted the audience to decide for themselves how they felt about this man, and whether or not they could find any sympathy for him."

But despite the sordid, even tragic nature of the story, and the challenge of shooting some of the more excruciating scenes, Roth has no doubts about the job of director.

"I loved it," he says without hesitation. "It's the best experience I've ever had working. I've already started preparing for my next film, and that one may be even harder to do."